


keep running from tomorrow with our lips locked

by Roxie Ann (pluvial_poetry)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, roadtrip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-18
Updated: 2010-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 06:37:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/134095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pluvial_poetry/pseuds/Roxie%20Ann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were newly graduated from college, released from bondage, and set to take over the world. Right after they traveled around the back roads of the America in a shitty, old Volkswagen for two months.</p><p>(Inception Road trip!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	keep running from tomorrow with our lips locked

**Day 1**

It was probably a little ridiculous that they had actually gone through with it, the decision they'd made after too many beers and a little of Yusuf's secret recipe. They were newly graduated from college, released from bondage, and set to take over the world. Right after they traveled around the back roads of the America in a shitty, old Volkswagen for two months.

It was a nice idea in theory. The five of them, one last hurrah before they had to grow up and away. The idea lost a little of its luster in reality, once they were crammed together with all of their worldly belongings in a van that had seen better days. Arthur thought he spotted mold under his feet. He closed his eyes, and breathed through his mouth. Another 59 days to go.

Cobb was in the driver's seat with Ariadne next to him, because he didn't trust anyone else to do the navigating. Arthur had lost the toss-up with Yusuf and had ended up in the back seat with Eames.

"Are we there yet?" Eames whispered in his ear. He was pressed against Arthur's side, and if Arthur hadn't pushed Eames to a more acceptable distance away it was simply because of the fact that Eames' cologne was the only thing drowning out whatever the hell the smell coming up from the carpet was.

"You sure you don't need another bathroom break, Yusuf?" Cobb asked as he shifted the van into gear.

"Ha, bloody, ha." Yusuf said, his face pressed against the passenger window. The rest of them laughed as they rolled out onto the street.

They fell silent as they left their campus behind. 

  
 **Day 9**

"I will not eat at another Denny's." Arthur was adamant, standing in the parking lot of said Denny's. There were only so many ways to combine eggs and meat and Arthur had tried them all in the past week. There had to be another way.

"Get over it, Arthur." Ariadne called back to him, as she walked arm and arm toward the diner with Cobb and Yusuf. Ariadne could pick at toast and oatmeal and be happy for the rest of the day. Yusuf and Cobb could and did eat whatever was put in front of them. Arthur wouldn't consider himself a picky eater, but only so many sacrifices could be made.

He looked at Eames, who looked equally grim. "We passed a gas station about a quarter mile back. We could walk there." Eames offered.

He ate Twizzlers and Twinkies for breakfast, standing in a gas station in Arizona. Eames turned to him and smiled. Arthur smiled back. And then smeared the last bite of one of his Twinkies across Eames' nose and mouth.

"You'll pay for that." Eames promised him. He licked his lips as he said it.

Arthur believed him.

  
 **Day 17**

Arthur had spilled the last half of a blue slushie down his front, but it was Yusuf's fault. He'd taken the corner on two wheels, the van and the people in it tilting precariously.

"Jesus fuck, Yusuf!" Cobb shouted. Arthur could hear his girlfriend, Mal, demanding to know what was wrong through Cobb's cell phone.

"Sorry, sorry." Yusuf said, putting on the brakes a little. The slushie had soaked through Arthur's shirt. He sighed, and wiggled out of it, careful not to jostle Ariadne next to him, who was still asleep. They'd all gotten pretty good at sleeping through anything. Arthur dropped the shirt on the van's floor. One more in the mosaic of stains. He didn't figure the rental company would ever know the difference.

The problem now was that he needed another shirt. He rooted around behind him, knowing that it was fruitless to hope that his luggage would be on top and that he'd be able to get into it from his seat. So he grabbed the first thing in cotton that he laid his hands on and dragged it over his head. It would do until Arthur could get to his own clothes. It was soft and comfortable, even if it was too big and faded, and the scent of it unmistakable.

Arthur looked up from the shirt to meet Eames' eyes, watching him from the front seat. "You're wearing my shirt." He said as he turned back around. Arthur frowned at the back of his head.

Eames had sounded pleased.

  
 **Day 24**

Arthur was oddly fascinated by the look on Eames' face. It vacillated between horror and murderous intent.

"Are you fucking out of your mind? It's yarn!" Eames enunciated every word carefully, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

Because that it was. The biggest ball of yarn in America. A somewhat dubious honor, Arthur thought as he looked up at it again.

"Is this because you miss your cat? Because that would be weird." Ariadne added helpfully.

"You drove all night, in the wrong direction, for yarn." Eames seemed to have settled on horrified now.

As Cobb marched them all back to the bus, Yusuf smiled apologetically and said -

"This will be a good memory someday, I think."

 **  
Day 30**

Arthur woke up abruptly, knowing immediately that something was wrong. They'd stopped moving. Of course the first time that they'd gotten completely lost, Eames had been driving.

"This road isn't even on the map." Arthur said. They were pulled over on the side of the road in the type of backcountry that was inescapably reminiscent of _Deliverance_. The two of them were spread out over the van's hood, a map held between them, Eames' finger tracing the line that was the road that they were meant to be on. The others were still asleep, curled up in their seats.

"Lovely." Eames said, and it should have sounded sarcastic, because no, it wasn't fucking lovely to be lost. But Eames seemed to think that it was. Arthur looked over at him, and he was smiling, his head tilted up toward the stars.

"We should wake up everyone else." Arthur said, his voice coming out gruff. He folded up the map, but when he went to stand, Eames' hand was on his knee.

"Another five minutes, yeah?" Eames murmured. 

And Arthur hesitated. Because Eames had a look on his face that was soft and dreamy. And it was only five minutes, under the stars, with wood smoke and a cricket song on the wind. He could give Eames that.

Maybe it was then that Arthur realized that their antagonistic push/pull, competitive bullshit had actually become a friendship. Or something like it.

Eames' hand was still on Arthur's knee five minutes later.

  
 **Day 40**

They were parked at the riverbank, the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. Arthur had given up on keeping track of what town they were in, he was lucky if he even knew what state they were in. (Though he was pretty sure they were still in Kentucky.)

They hadn't stopped for a reason. It was just a river, the same as every river everywhere. That bit of logic didn't matter to anyone but Arthur. They walked down to the water together and stood at its edge.

"We should go skinny-dipping." Ariadne said, her face brightening in that way it did when she felt especially clever.

Yusuf agreed. He had been down to his boxers before the words skinny-dipping had even left Ariadne's mouth. Cobb hesitated briefly, but when Ariadne's bra hit him in the face he started untucking his shirt from his jeans. They all left their clothes in a pile on the shore as they waded in.

Arthur turned to Eames, embarrassed with himself but god help him, curious. His gaze automatically moved down the length of Eames' body as he undressed. The broad width of shoulders, the muscular line of his back, the spiral of tattoos around his arms and down his sides as he pulled his shirt over his head. The dip of his pelvis, the round curve of his ass as he pushed his shorts and boxers to the ground.

He wasn't exactly being subtle, so it wasn't a surprise when Eames looked up and caught him staring. Eames winked, a smile beginning along the corners of his mouth.

"A proper gentleman would have averted his eyes." Eames said to him as he made his way into the water.

"I'll remember that." Arthur said seriously. His hands were working on the buttons of his shirt. He ignored Ariadne's whoop of success and Yusuf's catcalls as he stripped down.

Eames didn't avert his eyes.

  
 **Day 46**

They were more than a little sick of highways, rest stops, and motels by now. It was only surprising that it had taken them this long to reach this point. They ended up at a bar in a college town because they couldn't agree on any activity that didn't involve alcohol.

It was almost shameful how fast they got drunk, on shots with ridiculous names. Yusuf hadn't even protested when Ariadne dragged him to the dance floor, and Cobb had wandered off to call Mal again.

Arthur was probably the drunkest of all because the leap between wanting to do something and actually doing it had been thoughtlessly easy. And now here he was in the dark with his mouth sealed against Eames' neck, sucking what will become an obnoxiously large bruise. He pulled back to survey his work, humming a pleased note when Eames reached up to touch his skin where it was red and wet. Eames' mouth moved, but the music from the bar was too loud. Arthur moved in, his forehead pressed against Eames', wondering what Eames had said. But he didn't let Eames repeat himself. He bit down on Eames' lower lip instead, groaning when Eames jerked against him. He slid his tongue along the teeth marks he left there, and then inside Eames' mouth. Technique was lost to him at the moment, so it's messy and wet, their teeth mashed together and he bit Eames' lip again, harder and accidentally this time.

If privacy were possible, if their whole life wasn't long days in the Volkswagen and a crowded motel room some nights, there could have been more.

But this was enough for now, because Eames was cupping Arthur's chin in his hand, turning the kiss gentle and delicate. His mouth moved against Arthur's, shaping into a word and then it was more than enough, because what he said, what he had been saying was, " _Arthur._ "

  
 **Day 47**

His head was pounding. His stomach and the bus seemed to be moving in opposite directions. It was the hangover from hell. They drove over three bumps in a row and Arthur wished that someone would put him out of his misery.

He probably should have paid more attention when they'd chosen seats this morning. As it was he'd just crawled into the back and closed his eyes. Arthur regretted that now because Eames' elbow had been nudging his arm every five seconds for the past hour. He opened his eyes as Eames jabbed him yet again. But whatever he'd meant to say then didn't get said because Eames had been adjusting his shirt collar, which wasn't quite hiding the dark red bruising at his neck. A spike of lust hit Arthur so hard that he took a quick, audible breath in, surprising himself.

Eames had looked over at the sound. "I think it suits me." He said in an undertone, still toying with his collar. He had a smirk on his mouth would have pissed Arthur off except that it was almost fond.

And maybe Arthur knew the feeling, because suddenly he was smiling back.

"I think I'll be more subtle next time." He said quietly.

Arthur ignored Eames' mouthed "Next time?" and closed his eyes.

He fell asleep with Eames' arm pressed against his, listening to Yusuf tell Cobb about the pretty bartender from the night before.

He woke up with his head pillowed on Eames' chest. Eames was staring out the window, headphones on, lost in thought. But his hand was stroking Arthur's hair, smoothing pieces of it down behind his ear.

They were about 2500 miles from where they'd been.

It was a good spot to be in, so Arthur didn't move.

  
 **Day 55**

They built memories on tourist traps and photo ops, winding their way down the last bit of road.

The national parks had all blurred together for Arthur. He wondered if he would even remember what exactly they did on this trip, and where, when it was all over.

Maybe the only clear memory that he would have would be this one. Eames on his knees in a motel shower in Raleigh, North Carolina.

"The rest of us actually have to shower in there you know!" Cobb shouted through the bathroom door.

They ignored him.

Arthur's world had narrowed down to Eames' lips around his cock, the steady build-up of pleasure locking his knees and blurring his vision. He collapsed when he came, grabbing at the shower curtain for support, taking half of it down with him.

Arthur's surprised laugh gets lost in Eames' mouth and the drumbeat of the water falling. He's happy.

That's something worth remembering.

  
 **Day 59**

They took a vote, and now it's Arthur turn to drive because they're sick of him snapping and criticizing their driving. Arthur didn't blame them. He might have occasionally glared at them in the rear view mirror as they played poker in the back seat, but he couldn't help it. He'd been in a mood all day. A car swerved into his lane without using their signal light, and his hands flexed on the wheel. It was entirely possible that he would kill someone before the morning was over.

He looked over at Eames. He was as relaxed and unruffled as ever. Arthur glared at him a little too, just on principle. Eames grinned and reached over, set his hand on the back of Arthur's neck. He didn't bother to ask Arthur what was wrong or try to make him smile.

They'd just passed a sign that said, Welcome to New York.

"It's almost over." Arthur said. Eames' hand had moved from Arthur's neck to his left shoulder. It was effectively a one-armed hug, which shouldn't help Arthur's mood but - Arthur didn't shrug him off.

Eames let out a laugh. "Maybe," he said, "or maybe we'll get lost again tomorrow."

Arthur looked over at Eames and then back at the highway, stretching out indefinitely in front of them.

And Arthur smiled.


End file.
